


2015 Advent Calendar | Side HIKARU NO GO PT 2

by stillskies



Series: Advent Calendars [4]
Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-04 10:30:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5330873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillskies/pseuds/stillskies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>24 drabbles/ficlets for the 2015 holiday season. Pairings and characters will be updated as more drabbles/ficlets are added.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Christmas Plans

It’s not that he’s uncomfortable – he’d long gotten over any discomfort he might have had about being in a _relationship_ (and, okay, maybe there was still a teeny tiny bit of discomfort at that thought) with Ashiwara-san a few months after they’d started…. Dating? He isn’t even sure how to classify it because, in all honesty, there wasn’t a defining moment when things shifted. They had been having lunch together for years (Ashiwara-san has never been able to take no for an answer), and yeah, the movies on weekends were new, but they’d been doing that for at _least_ a year before…

Anyway. It’s not that he’s uncomfortable with the idea of spending Christmas together. Because Christmas is really just another day. One for couples. And that’s what he and Ashiwara-san were. Sort of. Maybe. (He still isn’t sure about the mechanics of coupledom, but he’s pretty sure they are.) So instead of trying to avoid the subject (like he had Valentine’s day, but in his defense, they’d only started… whatevering a few _weeks_ before, and he hadn’t been prepared to deal with who gave whom chocolate. Plus, he’d recovered – mostly – by White day), he decides to charge into it head on.

“AreyoudoinganythingonChristmas?” No one ever said he has to be graceful about it.

Ashiwara-san looks up from the goban, eyebrows knit together as he considers his next move (moves? Is Kouji making a move? _Is this some sort of important move?_ ) and potentially, how to break Kouji’s heart. Which is ridiculous because didn’t Ashiwara-san start all of this to begin wi— “Hm?”

Of course, there’s also the possibility that Ashiwara-san didn’t hear him. Ashiwara-san, who often hears the quietest, mumbled phrases that he really oughtn’t have heard. Some deity is clearly screwing with him.

 _Okay,_ Kouji thinks. _Nonchalant. It’s not a big deal. It’s just Christmas._ “I was just wondering if you were doing anything on Christmas?”

His rival (yes, rival was a good word; isn’t that what Shindou and Touya Akira call themselves? And he’s pretty sure that they’re doing more than playing go) blinks before smiling. It’s not Ashiwara-san’s usual blindingly bright smile, but a more hopeful one that Kouji is pretty sure is making him blush. “I was thinking of staying in, maybe recreating a game.”

“Did you want to… stay in together?” And that doesn’t same lame at all. Kouij is pretty sure he’s the least suave person on the planet. “I mean, we could stay in and play a game. Or study. Or something.” Something that would not require him to speak because he’s pretty sure that every word out of his mouth is making Ashiwara-san rethink their… whatever.

“That sounds nice.” Ashiwara-san is still smiling. “Maybe we can watch a movie? There’s an American film I usually watch around that time.”

“Sure,” Kouji says agreeably. “Anything you want.”

“Anything I want, huh? That’s a dangerous thing to offer, Saeki-kun.” The smile is now less shy and hopeful and more amused. Ashiwara-san must figure out his next move, because the _pachi_ of the stone hitting the board snaps him out of staring and into thinking about all of the ways that that could go badly.

Last time he’d told Ashiwara-san they could do anything he wanted, he’d ended up at Tokyo Disney Sea, wearing Mickey Mouse ears and taking pictures with every character Ashiwara-san could find.

“Within reason,” Kouji adds.

“Of course,” Ashiwara-san agrees, still smiling. 

He doesn’t heave a sigh of relief – after all, it’s not like he thought Ashiwara-san would rebuke him (okay, only a _little_ unsure) – but he feels significantly better about things now that there is a tentative plan. Kouji looks down at the goban and blanches.

Now if he could only feel good about this game.


	2. Christmas Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ochi has plans.

Ochi Kousuke dislikes the month of December, with its brightly colored lights, festively dressed window displays, and distractions. The hushed chatter has already begun - excited planning, nervous declarations. It's distracting the people around him from what is important - go. There are preliminaries and tournaments and title matches upcoming, but no one but he (and, perhaps, Ogata Jyuudan) seems to care.

It is frustrating. Even outmaneuvering Shindou does little to improve his mood. He records his win and leaves the Ki'in. The streets are lit, and snow is falling; if he were a different person, perhaps he would be moved, but all he feels is cold and annoyed and a little hungry. His grandfather will have dinner waiting, he knows. Dinner and a stack of photographs of women of suitable age and status.

Kousuke has only a passing interest in the photographs - he is sure they are all perfectly suited to marriage and homemaking and whatever else it is that a proper wife does. His grandfather will pick one out, and Kousuke will meet her, and that will be that. 

It crosses his mind that, perhaps, next year he will join the hushed conversations of Christmas plans and panic over presents, but this year he will spend it alone with his goban, reviewing kifu and solving tsumego.

He is pretty sure he prefers it this way.


	3. Holiday Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yashiro figures out New Year's

Yashiro Kiyoharu hasn't spoken to his parents since he walked out of his childhood home, his father's cold fury ringing louder in his ears than the cacophony of festival fireworks mere kilometers away. He hasn't regretted it - his life is _his_ to live, not for his father to dictate - but as the chill of winter settles over Tokyo, and lights snow starts to fall, he can't help but wander what he'll do at the end of the month.

New Year's is a holiday for families to gather and celebrate, and as far as Kiyoharu is concerned, he no longer has one of those.

(His mother tried to reach out shortly after he'd left, but all he could think of was her standing slightly behind his father, quiet and eyes fixed to the floor. She couldn't be bothered to stand up for him that night; he couldn't be bothered to listen to her half-hearted apologies and pleading insistence that he _be a good son, Kiyoharu; listen to your father._ )

Shindou is sprawled on the floor of Kiyoharu's apartment, reading the latest edition of some shounen manga magazine, when he asks about Kiyoharu's plans. He shrugs. "I'll probably stay here, drink beer and study. I've got first round preliminaries early next year."

"That's lame," Shindou announces in the way that he has - completely honest and without any tact. "You should come spend it with me. You can play grandpa. It'll be great. And it beats hanging out on your own."

He thinks about. "Are you sure your family won't mind?"

Shindou shakes his head. "Nah. I'll tell Mom you're coming."

Kiyoharu wants to say something - _thank you_ or _you don't know how much this means to me_ \- because he really doesn't want to be alone on New Year's, but he settles for a shrug and a "cool."


	4. The Kitten, pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira gets a kitten.

He agrees to accompany Ogata-san to the pet store to pick up food for his fish. Although Ogata-san doesn't say anything, Akira suspects that his father has asked the members of his old study group to look out for him. With his parents spending increasing amounts of time abroad, he knows that his mother worries. And when Touya Akiko worries, Touya Kouyou will move the earth itself to alleviate her stress. Knowing that Akira is not alone and has people around him is a reasonable way of ensuring that he isn't lonely, which, aside from his habit of skipping meals, is his mother's primary concern.

Akira doesn't intend to buy anything for himself. He has never, in his recollection, ever desired a pet. As he and Ogata-san enter the pet store and the stench of cages hits him, it only confirms his desire to maintain his clean, pleasantly smelling, pet-free home.

Until he sees the cage of kittens. And, in particular, a completely black one with two splotches of white above its eyes, giving it the appearance of absurd bangs. It sort of reminds him of Shindou. Ogata-san doesn't seem to notice Akira's sudden fascination and disappears into the aisles, presumably in search of fish food; Akira gravitates to the kitten.

It is sitting on a little ledge, eyeing him curiously. Up close, Akira can make out that it has green eyes and a black nose. It tilts its head and meows.

Akira takes a step back, startled.

"Don't mind her," the shop attendant says, and Akira isn't sure if he's talking to the cat or to Akira. "She likes to talk." 

_Another thing you and Shindou have in common,_ Akira thinks. "Is she for sale?"

The attendant grins. "Yup. We'll even set you up with necessities."

Akira blinks. "Necessities?"

"Collar, food, food and water bowls, litter, litter box, and scoop." He looks at the kitten, who meows encouragingly. "Fortunately, she's already litter trained."

This, Akira thinks as the attendant opens the cage to retrieve the kitten for him to hold, is crazy. The purchase of a pet ought to require thought - not be some spur of the moment decision. Besides, he has to leave town quite often for overnight events. Could he even leave her alone for that long?

The attendant holds out the kitten, which Akira automatically takes. She looks up at him with her big green eyes and starts to purr. The attendant is grinning. "I think she likes you."

Ogata-san doesn't say anything as the clerk rings Akira up.


End file.
